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Justified Paragraphs

Getting your teeth into the nitty-gritty issues of writing better text and publishing well

Free advice, tips and insights for independent authors and self-publishers. If you’d like to write about any aspect of English language editing for the Justified Paragraphs page, or would like to feature any of my posts on your own blog or website, please get in touch!

You can help the editorial process along by following these masterful tips on submitting manuscripts for editing: Please use as many fonts, colours and styles as you can. It looks pretty, doesn’t it? It won’t at all distract me from the editing process. Never use Word...

If you are self-publishing your book via Amazon's CreateSpace, Lulu, IngramSpark or the like, you will probably be asked during the process of listing your book for sale what BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) and/or BIC (Book Industry Communication)...

Proofreading is usually done these days using a PDF file of the layout. Once the designer or author has laid out the book or article ready for publication, that's when proofreading happens to make sure everything is in the right place and to catch any last-minute...

Our household is in the midst of what I will call post-Windows10-update-all-fed-up-with-this-now horror with one particular laptop. In the course of the many tasks needed to rescue the situation, I was reading some forum posts about saving and moving Thunderbird email...

Self-publishing is becoming increasingly popular, and it is often a good option for independent authors. Why go through all the hassle of finding a publisher when you can do it yourself by just hitting ‘upload’, right? Well, of course it’s not that easy, but it can be...

Did you know that there is a free searchable UK directory of professionally qualified proofreaders and editors, writers and more on the website of the Society for Editors and Proofreaders (SfEP)? It's the first place I direct enquiries to if I'm not available or I...

I was recently asked this question by a client: I often get confused over these, so which is correct? [company] guarantee confidentiality OR [company] guarantees confidentiality and [company] have developed OR [company] has developed Firstly, I’m pleased he asked, as...

OK, I admit it, I’m one of those people who likes to think I can have a go at anything. Take my bathroom shower. It started leaking. It looked like it just needed a new line of sealant around the tray. How hard could that be? I set to picking off the old stuff. Then I...

You can help the editorial process along – and save money and time – by following these quick tips on submitting manuscripts for editing: Don’t try to make your document look like a finished product/book, with pretty fonts and formatting, as I'll probably strip that...